Purpose :
Macroautophagy is a vital cellular mechanism, activated in response to oxidative stress. Aim of this study is to understand the pathogenesis of keratoconus with respect to oxidative damage in patient samples and an in-vitro model

Conclusions :
All together our data suggests impaired autophagy regulation due to oxidative damage in cornea which may be driving the mechanism and progression of keratoconus. Targeting the mTOR and autophagic lysosomal pathway may open new avenues to develop therapeutic approaches for the treatment of Keratoconus

This is an abstract that was submitted for the 2016 ARVO Annual Meeting, held in Seattle, Wash., May 1-5, 2016.